This morning I received a release from the
National Retail Federation, the U.S.'s retail trade association. The release presented the results of a five-year study conducted by market research firm
SIRS, which showed that consumers are starting to favor smaller grocery stores over big boxes and supercenters. Here are a couple of quotes from the release:
According to the study, consumers now base their decisions on where to shop based on their emotional needs, which include the overall perception of the shopping experience like atmosphere, trust and customer service and whether or not a store is fun and enjoyable. In fact, 35 percent of consumers in 2007 stated they prefer an enjoyable experience over traditional, rational factors such as price and convenience, compared to 30 percent in 2002.
"The decline of the attractiveness of the big box stores, the aging of America, the growth in the importance of convenience, personalized service and the emotional consumer 'where to shop drivers' are causing a tipping point going in favor of smaller stores for the first time in over 20 years," said Chris Ohlinger, CEO of SIRS.
While the article does deal with grocery retailers, it will be interesting to see if this new consumer enthusiasm for smaller retail venues will spill over into other product categories.
Canada has the oldest population in the Americas and one out of every seven Canadians is a senior citizen. Perhaps big retail and power centers are losing their appeal here as well. The SIRS research is profiled in the November issue of the NRF's STORES' magazine. I'm attaching a PDF of the article that accompanied the release. It's not about gifts and tablewares but it's still very interesting reading.
Download file
In addition, on last evening's edition of
The Agenda, TVO's current affairs program, host Steve Paikin talked with Catherine Swift, the president of the
Canadian Federation of Independent Business about what the high dollar means to the country's small businesses. Video of the show should be up on The Agenda's web site tomorrow (maybe later today) if you'd like to see the interview.
